Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• Russian security service says killed North Caucasus Islamic State 'emir'
• Russia seeks full withdrawal of Aleppo rebels
• Under dusty fog cover, IS strikes Iraqi forces near Mosul
• France pledges $30 million for wartime heritage protection
• Morocco arrests suspect tied to thwarted French attack plot
• IS jihadist linked to French plot arrested in Morocco
• Morocco arrests suspected militant involved in French plot
• Iraq forces gain ground northeast of Mosul
• Mosul residents fear cold and hunger of winter siege
• The Latest: Iran and Russia reaffirm alliance in Syria war
• Fund set up to protect endangered heritage sites
• The preservation warriors: saving the past for the future
• France, UAE launch fund to protect monuments in conflict areas
• With Mosul under siege, an unlikely chance to save ISIS-enslaved Yazidis?
• Turkish military kills 20 Kurdish fighters in Hakkari, army says
• France pledges $30 million toward cultural protection fund
• North Korea: fresh approach needed, International justice under attack, Turkey’s departure from democracy, Britain’s challenge, Iran’s tumultuous relationship with the US
• Website seeks to match migrants with employers in Germany
• Nations set to approve heritage protection fund
• Death toll from last month's IS bombing in Iraq rises to 92
• Ruins of homes in Kirkuk a sign of divisions to come in Iraq

Russian security service says killed North Caucasus Islamic State 'emir' Posted: 03 Dec 2016 05:24 PM PST Russia's FSB security service said Sunday it had killed an "emir" of the Islamic State group in the North Caucasus along with four other militants in a raid in the Dagestan region. The FSB said that Aselderov was involved in 2013 blasts in the southern Russian city of Volgograd which killed 34. It also linked him to twin car blasts in Dagestan in 2012 that killed 14 and injured at least 120.

Russia seeks full withdrawal of Aleppo rebels Posted: 03 Dec 2016 01:06 PM PST By Tom Perry, Isla Binnie and Vladimir Soldatkin BEIRUT/ROME/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Saturday it was ready for talks with the United States about a withdrawal of all Syrian rebels from eastern Aleppo, where advances by the Russian-backed Syrian army and its allies threaten to deal a crushing blow to the rebellion. In just over a week, the army and allied militias have seized large areas of the opposition-held territory in eastern Aleppo in a fierce campaign that may leave the rebels with no choice but to seek a negotiated passage out of their area. With tens of thousands of civilians still living in the rebels' shrinking, besieged enclave, the U.N. envoy for Syria suggested eastern Aleppo could fall by the end of the year and hoped a way could be found to avoid a "terrible battle".

Under dusty fog cover, IS strikes Iraqi forces near Mosul Posted: 03 Dec 2016 11:36 AM PST QABR AL-ABD, Iraq (AP) — Under the cover of dust and fog, Islamic State group fighters launched a series of counterattacks on Iraqi positions to the south and west of the militant-held city of Mosul late Friday night and into Saturday morning, according to Iraqi military commanders and officials.

France pledges $30 million for wartime heritage protection Posted: 03 Dec 2016 11:29 AM PST ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — France committed $30 million toward protecting cultural heritage sites during wartime on Saturday, a first step in the creation of an international fund aimed at preventing destruction like that carried out by Islamic State militants.

Morocco arrests suspect tied to thwarted French attack plot Posted: 03 Dec 2016 10:21 AM PST RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Moroccan police have arrested a "dangerous element" who allegedly served as a liaison between the Islamic State group and members of a French cell dismantled last month while allegedly planning an attack, the state-run MAP news agency reported Saturday.

IS jihadist linked to French plot arrested in Morocco Posted: 03 Dec 2016 09:29 AM PST A suspected Islamic State group jihadist who delivered instructions to a cell planning to carry out an attack in France has been arrested in Morocco, authorities said Saturday. The suspect was linked with a French IS cell that had planned to attack Paris on Thursday but was broken up by French authorities in November, the Moroccan interior ministry said. The orders came from the jihadist group in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.

Morocco arrests suspected militant involved in French plot Posted: 03 Dec 2016 08:48 AM PST By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan authorities have arrested a suspected militant accused of acting as an intermediary between Islamic State commanders and a cell dismantled by French authorities last month, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. France said late last month it had foiled a possible attack after detaining seven people, including some who had been in the ranks of Islamic State in Syria. "For his mission (the suspect) met Islamic State messengers on the Turkish-Syrian border and he received instructions ... to pass on to the group that has been arrested on French soil," the Moroccan ministry said in a statement.

Iraq forces gain ground northeast of Mosul Posted: 03 Dec 2016 07:46 AM PST Forces from the Iraqi army retook four villages from the Islamic State group northeast of the city of Mosul on Saturday, the Joint Operations Command said. The recapture by the army's 16th division of the villages between Bashiqa and Mosul clears the way for Iraqi forces to enter the city from the northeast. "The army's 16th division liberated four villages on the northern front... and raised the Iraqi flag on buildings after defeating the enemy," a statement said.

Mosul residents fear cold and hunger of winter siege Posted: 03 Dec 2016 07:32 AM PST By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - No food or fuel has reached Mosul in nearly a week and the onset of rain and cold weather threatens a tough winter for more than a million people still in Islamic State-held areas of the city, residents said on Saturday. Iraqi troops waging a six-week-old offensive against the militants controlling Mosul have advanced into eastern city districts, while other forces have sealed Mosul's southern and northern approaches and 10 days ago blocked the road west. A trader in Mosul, speaking by telephone, said no new food or fuel supplies had reached the city since Sunday.

The Latest: Iran and Russia reaffirm alliance in Syria war Posted: 03 Dec 2016 07:23 AM PST ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

Fund set up to protect endangered heritage sites Posted: 03 Dec 2016 06:34 AM PST Representatives of around 40 countries on Saturday approved plans to establish a fund to protect heritage sites in war zones and a network of safe havens for endangered artworks. A closing statement issued after two days of talks in Abu Dhabi did not specify the total amount pledged for the fund but French President Francois Hollande said a target of $100 million remained achievable. The meeting, co-sponsored by France and the United Arab Emirates, was spurred by the systematic destruction and looting of archaeological treasures in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State group.

The preservation warriors: saving the past for the future Posted: 03 Dec 2016 06:20 AM PST Daniel Kruel is used to wandering through ancient Babylon. The unusual sculpture is one small reminder that Babylon was once a seat of architecture, culture, and learning – as the Greek historian Herodotus put it, "in magnificence there is no other city that approaches it" – even though it would also earn a reputation for sin and godlessness with its Tower of Babel. A graduate student in urban planning at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Kruel is occupying a virtual Babylon using a technology that is rapidly becoming a tool for organizations such as the New York-based World Monuments Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of cultural heritage.

France, UAE launch fund to protect monuments in conflict areas Posted: 03 Dec 2016 05:34 AM PST France and the United Arab Emirates on Saturday launched a $100 million fund to protect heritage sites threatened by extremism and conflict after the destruction last month of an ancient palace by Islamic State militants in Iraq. The fund, announced at an Abu Dhabi conference attended by President Francois Hollande and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, will be used to create "safe havens" for endangered artifacts and to transport and restore monuments damaged by war, UAE state news agency WAM reported. "Conflict causes irreparable damage to valuable heritage sites in Syria, Iraq, Mali and many others," WAM quoted Mohammed al-Mubarak, chairman of Abu Dhabi's tourism and culture authority, as saying.

With Mosul under siege, an unlikely chance to save ISIS-enslaved Yazidis? Posted: 03 Dec 2016 04:00 AM PST Ghazal Salim had spent more than two years in slavery under the so-called Islamic State when her chance for freedom finally came. As Kurdish and Iraqi forces prepared for the offensive on Mosul in mid-October, her captor, a Jordanian IS fighter, was also making plans for the battle. Along with Ms. Salim – one of the thousands of Yazidi women and girls taken by IS in 2014 – he took his wife and child from Mosul, where they lived, to Raqqa, the de facto IS capital in Syria.

Turkish military kills 20 Kurdish fighters in Hakkari, army says Posted: 03 Dec 2016 03:41 AM PST The Turkish military killed 20 fighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) after they tried to attack army bases in the southeastern Hakkari province, the military said on Saturday. The fighters crossed into Turkey from northern Iraq and attempted to launch attacks on military bases in the mountainous border region, the military said, without giving further details. Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast has been rocked by violence since a 2-1/2 year ceasefire between the government and the PKK broke down in July last year.

France pledges $30 million toward cultural protection fund Posted: 03 Dec 2016 03:26 AM PST ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — France is committing $30 million toward a new fund set up to protect cultural heritage sites during times of armed conflict.

North Korea: fresh approach needed, International justice under attack, Turkey’s departure from democracy, Britain’s challenge, Iran’s tumultuous relationship with the US Posted: 03 Dec 2016 03:00 AM PST "Pyongyang has withstood the latest round of international sanctions, a spate of defections by North Korean elites, and deepening international diplomatic isolation...," write Jana Hajzlerova and Michael Raska.

Website seeks to match migrants with employers in Germany Posted: 03 Dec 2016 02:22 AM PST BERLIN (AP) — A startup company in Berlin is trying to help integrate last year's flood of migrants into the German workforce with a tailor-made online job market for new arrivals.

Nations set to approve heritage protection fund Posted: 03 Dec 2016 12:57 AM PST Representatives of around 40 countries are expected to approve on Saturday establishing a fund to protect heritage sites in conflict-ravaged areas and a network of safe havens for endangered artworks. From Syria to Mali, Afghanistan to Iraq, jihadists have targeted priceless cultural heritage sites that they deem un-Islamic. French ex-culture minister Jack Lang, who heads the Paris-based Institut du Monde Arabe, said the heritage protection fund and safe haven network would be included in a declaration at the end of the Abu Dhabi conference.

Death toll from last month's IS bombing in Iraq rises to 92 Posted: 03 Dec 2016 12:39 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say the death toll from a Nov. 24 suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group has risen to 92, including about 40 Iranians.

Ruins of homes in Kirkuk a sign of divisions to come in Iraq Posted: 02 Dec 2016 11:39 PM PST IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — All along the street, houses have been reduced to rubble in the central Iraqi city of Kirkuk. The work of Kurdish security forces retaliating against Sunni Arabs after a recent Islamic State group attack, residents say.

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